Turkmenistan: Ashgabat Stalls on Israeli Ambassador

Turkmenistan is reluctant to accept to Reuven Dinel, an alleged former Mossad operative, as Israel's first ambassador in Ashgabat, a leading Israeli newspaper says.

A report published by Ha'aretz characterized Turkmenistan's four-month delay as an "unusual diplomatic hint."

"They are hoping we will get the hint and appoint someone else to the position," a senior source at the Israeli Foreign Ministry told the paper on March 2. Dinel reportedly has close ties to Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

"From the outset this appointment was very strange. They took someone who is a declared espionage person, who had even been thrown out of Russia for that, and put him in Turkmenistan. They did all this without consulting any professional element. What did they expect would happen? There's no way he would get the approval of the [Turkmen] authorities," the source told Ha'aretz, adding that Russian pressure had likely come to bear on Ashgabat.

A spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry acknowledged a delay in the opening of an Israeli embassy in Ashgabat, saying "a number of difficulties have arisen, mostly with regard to security matters, as often happens when opening a new delegation."

"We hope it will be possible to arrange matters in the coming weeks" the Foreign Ministry representative added.

Dinel, who worked at the Israeli Embassy in Moscow, was expelled from Russia in 1996 on suspicion of carrying out espionage activities. He allegedly ran a network of Mossad agents throughout the former Soviet Union.